Page 34 of That's Amore

The man was reducing me to being the worst version of myself. After a year of giving him the best, I had nothing left. It was all gone. I kept hearing him tell his friend that Lucia was more suited to be his wife. Did he even realize the damage he did with that statement? Oh, no, he blamedmefor eavesdropping.

Was he already having sex with Lucia now? The thought that made my heart stutter. Was sex better with her than me? Were they setting the sheets on fire? I hope they did and it was hot as Hades.

Damn it! I shouldn’t think about sex and Dante together because now I was thinking about sexwithDante, and it was all kinds of messed up.

“Come for me, cara.” He thrust inside me, his fingers playing my clitoris. “I want to feel you.”

“Dante,” I mumbled, not being able to form words. I’d already come once on his tongue, and I didn’t know if I could do it again. I was spent. Lethargic. Drugged with pleasure.

His movements became stronger, his grip on my hips harder. He’d raised my legs so my thighs lay against his shoulders, and he was on his knees so he could go deep inside me.

“Yes, cara. Like that. I can feel it.”

“Dante.”

“Cara, che figa piú stretta.” He spoke Italian when he was aroused. “You’re so tight, Elysa. Sei perfetta.”

After he pulled out, he watched as his cum dripped out of me, pushing it back inside me, making me quiver.

“Mine,” he whispered, making my heart race.

Did he do that with Lucia as well? Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and I pushed those memories away. Dante was on loan to me. He wasn’t mine, even though I’d been all his.

“I know that things were difficult…at Villa Medici,” he said softly.

“That’s one way of putting it.” The snarky bitch inside me needed to take a break.

“I made mistakes,” he continued patiently. “I should never have insisted on Patrizia. I should…not have spent so much time with Lucia.”

I waited for him to turn this around and make it my fault and use his master-to-moron tone as he usually did with me.

Before he could say more, the server returned with his beer and my Negroni. Once he was gone, I took a long gulp of my drink.

I wondered if I should’ve ordered a whiskey neat or something and drunk it like a shot because I was unnerved sitting here with Dante, being able to smell his cologne, remembering how his hands made love to me.

Stop drooling, Elysa. He said sex with you was okay which equals mediocre, which equals average, whichequals blah. He may have rocked your world, dumbass, but you didn’t rock his…like at all.

Out of the blue, he said, “I want to talk to you about Nonno’s award ceremony.”

I knew that Don Giordano was getting awarded the highest civilian honor in the country. I was very proud of him for that and pondered if I should go even though Dante and I were not together. I’d be able to say hello to my father, who’d be there. But the idea of telling Papa I left Dante had made me decide against it.

“What about it?”

“This is important to the Giordano family and to the company. Your father will be there as well, and I think it’s only right that you come as well.”

“Huh? You want me to attend the award ceremony?”

“Yes.”

I sighed. “Look, I don’t want to. My father will make a whole fuss about our divorce and?—”

“I want you to be there as my wife. There will be no talk about divorce,” he cut me off.

I stared at him, stunned. “Are you out of your mind?”

“This is a big deal, Elysa.” He tried to hold my hand, but I pulled it away, and that was when he went for the low blow. “Nonno would want you there…as a member of his family.”

I picked up my Negroni and emptied the glass.The hell with pretending I was poised and all that shit because I wasn’t.

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